The proof of analytical chemical education lies in proficiency testing: A proficiency testing programme in polytechnic academia and vocational colleges in The Netherlands

Participation in proficiency testing schemes (PT-schemes) is an important way to prove and to improve the skills of analytical chemical students. It gives valuable information on the professional capabilities of the students and is thus an important step in the training of laboratory engineers and technicians. In the programme described three types of samples are offered to the students: chemical, environmental and clinical samples. A guiding protocol presents instructions to the participating student groups. Standard operating procedures are available, but the students are also free to select their own method. The results are methodologically and statistically judged by professional PT-organisers and are presented in the customary way: the dataset, the mean (consensus) value of all participants and the Z-scores. The final presentation of the results takes place in an annual symposium where awards are presented to the best performing student groups, and a lecture programme is presented with subjects in the area of quality assurance and quality control. A selection of results from the KILO/PT/1998–1999 and the KILO/PT/1999–2000 programme is presented.